Park Studio: Skaters and Makers skate session and video shoot with Team Etnies and others, Photo by Eric Herbranson

Park Studio: Skaters and Makers skate session and video shoot with Team Etnies and others, Photo by Eric Herbranson

Local high school students spend their Spring Break participating in the Santa Monica Museum of Art’s Park Studio: Skaters and Makers program, 2013

Professional skateboarder Salman Agah tests out the new skate ramps created by local high school students in the Santa Monica Museum of Art’s exhibition Park Studio: Skaters and Makers, Photo by Vince Bucci

This exhibition features the intersection of art, design, and skateboard culture with two large, modular skate cube sculptures made by students who worked with architect François Perrin, designer Gil Le Bon Delapointe, and craftsman Dante Cacace. Each skate cube is an assembly of twenty-two hand built skate ramps that can be separated and arranged into an array of functional uses—from skateboarding to lounging—or left together as a minimalist form.

About Park Studio:Now in its fourteenth year, Park Studio is an innovative interdisciplinary program that brings local students and contemporary artists together to explore themes of art and urban life. High school participant artists are aged 14-19 years old and attend school in the immediate area. SMMoA works to serve the demographically diverse residential area of Santa Monica. Recruitment is conducted at Virginia Avenue Park’s Teen Center, Santa Monica High School, Olympic High School, the Pico Youth and Family Center (PYFC), and the Police Activities League (PAL).

About the Artists:

Francois Perrin is an architect based in Los Angeles, California. He has designed several residences in the city and the PAS House in Malibu. He is the author of Air Architecture, and the related exhibition traveled to Los Angeles, New York, and Vienna. His work has been featured in the New York and Los Angeles Times, Sunset, Dwell, and Wallpaper magazines.

Gil Le Bon Delapointe is a designer based in Dana Point, California. He has worked as a designer for Etnies for more than twenty years. His projects for the company include the furniture line Skate Study House and the PAS House, a residence in which every surface can be skated. He was one of the first sponsored skateboarders from France.

Dante Cacace is a master carpenter based in Venice, California.

Perrin, Le Bon Delapointe, and Cacace collaborated on the PAS House concept, a residence in which every surface can be skated.

Support for Park Studio has been generously provided by the Good Works Foundation and Laura Donnelley, the Eileen Harris Norton Foundation, and the Barnwood Foundation. This program was made possible in part by a grant from the City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Arts Commission.